Friday, November 28, 2014

I know I went overboard with these. I don't even know whether I liked the formula but you know how it is online. You can never just order one lipstick.

I honestly don't know why I suddenly decided that I just had to have the Tom Ford Color Matte lipsticks. I wasn't particularly impressed with my Indian Rose which I bought last year. Somehow seeing all the swatches posted by The RAEviewer just got me. I just love jewel shades don't you?

So yup, thats how I ended up with three.

I do love the luxe dark brown and gold casing. It feels hefty and clicks shut.

Left to right: Pussycat, Velvet Cherry and Black Dahlia

I am going to feature Black Dahlia first. This colour looks so way out of my comfort zone. But don't be fooled by how it looks in the tube.

On first swipe, it is a between a dark and medium plum shade and quite wearable. However the more you apply, the more opaque and darker it gets.

I paired Black Dahlia with Burberry's lip pencil in Bright Plum. It was love at first sight. I love how my lips popped.

The trick about wearing a dark plum shade is to make sure you put enough colour on your cheeks or else you look like goth girl.

I made sure I prepped my lips first by applying my Tatcha lip balm. This matte shade is unforgiving to less than perfect lips. Make sure your lips are not cracking or peeling, if not exfoliate first. I only applied this once. I realise that the more I apply, the darker my lips got.

It lasted me the whole of 5 hours. It stayed intact through sips of water. I have not tried having a meal with this though. It feels creamy when applied and doesn't feel too heavy on my lips. It isn't moisturizing but it didn't damage my lips after wear either. Instead of a flat matte look, it had a little more dimension which makes it more wearable in my opinion.

Do note that Guerlain and Burberry have a satin texture as opposed to Tom Ford's matte. I find Tom Ford's Black Dahlia a little fussy it terms of application. Your lips needs to be well prepped unlike Gigolo or Bright Plum which I can slick on any time.

I am also wary of reapplying because I don't want my lipstick to get any darker than it is.

At USD $50 I wish I could say it is the best lipstick ever but I can't. As much as I love the shade and how it looks on me, this lipstick takes a bit of work to apply. It applies smoothly and feels creamy but I just can't get past the fact that I can only apply it once. I'm going to try blotting and applying more lip balm before reapplication to see if that works. I let you know in an update.

This is a limited edition shade though so if you like plummy shades you might just want to get it before it disappears.

Monday, November 24, 2014

I love cream eye shadows a lot. Tom Ford Cream Color for Eyes are in a class of their own. I first came across them when Tom Ford released Escapade and Pink Haze during the summer 2013 collection. (You can see swatches and read my review of them here) I jumped at the opportunity to pick up Platinum and Spice this time round. Thank you Ruby!

I am going to show you Platinum first. It got jiggled around a lot during shipment and therefore quite a lot of product was stuck on the cap. Not that I mind. Platinum is a gorgeous taupe.

It has a lightweight cream that glides onto my lids and stays put. I do not experience any fading or creasing at all with this. It can be layered on. One layer for a sheer metallic taupe shade and just layer on for an intense look. It applied evenly and does not become patchy even after multiple layers. It plays well with the rest of my cream shadows. I tried it over Laura Mercier's Rosegold Caviar Stick. It works as a great base for powder eye shadows too.

By the way, I feel this works best when applied with fingers. I gently pat it on my lids and blend it out. It does not set immediately which means I have time to blend it out.

You can choose to do a simple one colour look or layer it over your other eye products. Here I used Platinum on my eyelids. I added the darkest shade from my Guerlain Petrouchka palette on the outer corner of my lids for a little more depth.

At USD $42, these are about the most expensive cream color eye shadows ever. To me, they are worth the price tag. Platinum is just such a pretty shade that will work on most skin tones. The quality is top notch. It stays put until I decide to take if off. It does not crease or fade on my oily lids. Best f all, I love how easy it is to blend this out.

I had my old Tom Ford cream shadows for a little over a year now and they are as creamy as the first time I opened them up. I am hoping these will keep for a long time. Be sure to cap them immediately after scooping some product out to extend the longevity of these babies.

I took out some cream eye shadows I own that seemed to be quite similar.

To my eyes, Platinum seems to have more brown and warmer as compared to Alloy. Alloy is the closest match and the more affordable option should you miss out on Platinum which is limted edition by the way.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

I wasn't in love with last year's Crazy Paris palette but the warm eye shadow colours of this palette just caught my attention. They may be boring neutrals but honestly neutrals are what I wear all the time. I love that instead of lip colours they decided to pair it with blush instead. Very good move Guerlain. The packaging is just gorgeous. Totally in line with a luxurious Night at the Opera.

Instead of a super shiny gold casing, this is a slightly matte so it does not attract fingerprints as much. The palette comes in two tiers. The first tier houses 5 eye shadows and the second tier houses 4 blush shades.

The blush applicator is cute but tiny. I honestly don't see how useful it can be. I love the sponge applicator though. I have used the sponge applicators in the Guerlain palettes before and I really like the sharp triangle shaped end. I love to use it for lining my eyes.

The blush pans are small. They consist of two main blush shades and two smaller highlighter shades. It is somewhat difficult to pick up just one colour using my blush brushes. My blush brushes have big heads. The smallest blush brush I have manages to pick up two shades at one go.

On to the swatches!

Check out the shades. The three darker shades are gorgeously pigmented. I use the sheer gold shade as a topper shade to add shine and sparkle on my inner lids. The lightest white gold shade works well as a brow highlighter without being too frosty.

I think the blushes are nicely pigmented. Not too pigmented. Very easy to apply. They last for about 5 hours of wear.

Here is an eye look I wore out the other day. Using the coppery gold shade, third from the top as my main eye lid shade and the white gold shade as a brow highlight.

Then I added the reddish brown shade on the outer corners of my lids blending inwards.

Finally my usual eye liner. I was playing around with my eye liner as you can see.

I used the two bottom pans for my blush here.

I bought this at Nordstrom for USD $90.

There is never a way to justify spending USD $90 for a palette other than the fact that you want to give yourself or someone you love a treat. But what a gorgeous treat it is. If you like warm shadows, this palette will definitely be something you want to look out for. All the eyeshadow shades complement each other for day to night looks. The blushes wear well and blend nicely.

This seems to be a very sought after palette so if you have your eyes on it, better get it fast.

Monday, November 17, 2014

I can't get enough of red lipsticks. I have tons but I still have room for more. One of my favourite lipstick formulas has to the Guerlain's Rouge G. They are creamy and opaque and they feel luxurious on my lips. I missed out on some of the limited edition Rouge G casings before so I wan't going to et Rouge Parade slip my clutches.

The limited red casing is a heavy duty plastic casing that feels as heavy as the regular Rouge G. It sports a gold Guerlain button instead of the regular silver.

Look at me! I'm so pretty!

One swipe

Rouge Parade is described as a "luminous red". It is not a full on red, I see hints of pink in it. Just like all my Rouge Gs, this applies like a dream. It goes on opaque on one swipe. It feels moisturizing and does not dry out my lips at all. It is quite long lasting, it fades slightly after food but it still looks pretty good on my lips.

I think Guerlain makes the best jewel colours especially in the Rouge G formula. It is something you could wear for the Christmas season or just to brighten your day. Totally hoard worthy.

Three things caught my eye. The Petrouchka palette (golds and neutrals what is there not to love!), the Rouge Parade lipstick (Rouge G with a LE red casing, sign me up!) and the Perles D'Etoile meteorites. I haven't had much luck with the past meteorites I bought. They didn't do anything for my face but I got sucked in my the gold and red packaging.

I will leave you with pictures of my haul.

I am taking my time to play with this so hang in tight for the swatches and reviews. I bet these are going fast so if you have your eye on it, I think you better buy it fast.

I bought mine from Nordstrom by the way and thankfully my meteorites arrived intact. Have a great day people!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

I took a trip down to Sephora to take advantage of the 20% discount. My intention was to just get my staples but I unfortunately got stuck at the Make Up For Ever counter swatching the new Artist Shadows. The texture and feel of the shadows were buttery and the swatches were awesome. I had to pick some up. I was torn between the awesome colourful shadows or get neutrals which I know I would use more often. Thankfully sanity prevailed and I only left with three neutrals instead of a gazillion.

Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows come in a simple pan with a plastic cover. You can see the number of the shadow at the back. Right now they are sitting on my drawer, homeless. I'm waiting for the 4 pan palettes to come in. There are single, duo and triple pan palettes which sells for SGD $9 (very affordable I think.)

562 Taupe Platinum

Taupe Platinum is a sparkly taupish all over lid colour that suits my warm complexion. It is a very simply colour to use and coordinate. I used Burberry Porcelain as a wash and paired it with Taupe Platinum on my lids. It is that simple.

640 Golden Snake

Golden Snake is more of a cool toned brown. Here is a quick and dirty swatch of how it looks on my lids.

652 Celestial Earth

Celestial Earth is more of a chocolate brown with reddish tones.

Top to bottom: Celestial Earth, Golden Snake and Taupe Platinum

Battle of the taupes! I took out my favourite Burberry eye shadows to compare with Taupe Platinum.

Pale Barley on the left and Rosewood on the right

Top to bottom: Pale Barley, Rosewood and Taupe Platinum

My quality control cat, Princess Precious making sure I get a good shot.

Burberry Eye shadow Midnight Brown

Left to right: Golden Snake, Celestial Earth and Midnight Brown

The new Make Up For Ever Shadows are pigmented. They feel buttery and soft but when swatched side by side with my favourite Burberry eye shadows, Burberry still triumphs when it comes to quality but honestly on lids, who can tell the difference?

I would use the analogy if you will bear with me, Make Up For Ever Diamond Finish shadows are like the flashy younger sister with loads of energy and oomph whereas Burberry shadows are the quiet and more refined elegant older sister. (Does that make sense to you?)

I love the Diamond finish because I love that added sparkle on my lids but it might not be for everyone.

These sell at SGD $26 per pan and I got it for SGD $20.80 at the Sephora 20% sale. What a steal!Ratings: 5+ lipsticks